monitor (02/25/83)
Perhaps I am prejudiced, seeing that I work for said phone company, however, I must say that after using the phone systems in such civilised countries as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan, I can safely say that the US phone system is equal to or better than the best that is offered by these countries. Direct dialing is non-existant for long distance calls (let alone international calls) from almost all phones in Spain and Italy. Direct international dialing is just starting to be implemented in Japan, Germany, and France (on a limited basis, currently around half of the phones in the US could be hooked into international dialing exchanges, but access is limited to people who ask for it (would you like your kid to dial upper volta on a dare?)). I have heard that making an overseas call from Israel is an hour long process (from a friend of mine who worked in a kibbutz for a summer). A phone call (direct dialed) from Germany to the US runs about $5 per minute...about twice the prime time rate for the reverse call, here to there. It seems to me that the US still has the most advanced switching systems available for large applications (of course Rolm and Nippon make excellent PBX's that rival the Bell System's DIMENSION* PBX), and large applications is what national phone service is all about. Pat Wood Bell Laboratories harpo!whuxg!mphw * DIMENSION is a registered trade mark of Western Electric